SCHLACHTFLIEGER! review.

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Rick:
There is a great review of SCHLACHTFLIEGER! by Dr.Richard P. Hallion in W.W.1 Aero Issue no.197, page 110.
It will make you feel much better.
Blue skies,
Dan

[await]

Hi Dan,

Unfortunately I let my subscription to WW1 Aero lapse. Are there any key quotes from the article you'd like to mention?

Thanks,
Adam

[Galloway]

Originally Posted by Dan_San_Abbott

Rick:
There is a great review of SCHLACHTFLIEGER! by Dr.Richard P. Hallion in W.W.1 Aero Issue no.197, page 110.
It will make you feel much better.
Blue skies,
Dan

Dan,

I'm in the middle of the book right now, and I must say all the information I was hoping to find & many surprises were there!
Great Read Also!

I just ordered a Koster 1/48th scale Hannover CL.IIIA to go with one of your profiles..........

I would Highly recommend the book!

Ken

[Barrett]

Dick is the retired senior historian of the USAF, now in emeritus status. If he likes your book, then you done good!

I had some email discussion w/Dick and a couple others right after Dan-San's book appeared, and the uniformity of opinion was no surprise. I made the point that it's not an airplane book but a splendid example of an aviation history book.

BTW, Dick's working on Vol. II of his tremendous history of aviation, Taking Flight.

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Barrett:
I have no way of contacting Dr.Hallion and if I may use you as the messenger, I wish to respond to his "quibble", to quote,
" My only quibble would be there is susprisingly little coverage of Junkers J.I, the all metal sesquiplane representing Germany's effort to incorporate the all metal airplane into its battlefield air attack arsenal."
I had specifically looked for the JU.J.I assuming the Schlastan would have used them in their low level attacks in the Battle of Cambrai and subsequent battle in 1918. Not one was listed in and of the Schusta/Schlasta inventories. In fact only one was listed and that was the Alb.J.I with the Becker 20mm cannon supplementing the Gunner's Parabellum. As far as I could find out, there were only seven of them used, and those seven were scattered singlely through the Schlasta. I can only surmise the Schlasta crews were not enthused over the mediorce performance. They did not fit into the two-seat fighter category of the Halberstadts and the Hannovers.
i would appreciate it if you would pass it along to Dr.Hallion. I am most pleased he like the book.
Very blue skies,
Dan-San

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Adam Wait:
Dr.Richard Hallian's is praise indeed for the work that Rick Duiven and I put into this work. He recognizes the it is "decades of work." He acknowledges your perception of this work in your forward. I will take just one sentence from a paragraph that tell you his perceception of "SCHLACHTFLIEGER! In the previous paragraph he lists three books and authors that he considers as "noble works", they are Ray Fredette's "SKY ON FIRE", Douglas Robibson's "ZEPPELIN IN COMBAT" and R.D. Layman's "NAVAL AVIATION IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR.
"Now we can add to that illustrious list Duiven's and Abbott's encyclopedic SCHLACHTFLIEGER!, the single most detailed historical examination of German battlefield support aviation that has ever appeared, or is, indeed, likely to in the future." And Dr. Robinson goes on from there.
Rick when you read this, Dr.Hallion stated,
"Surprisingly, however, the authors have furnished such a comprehensive examination that their work is remarkably error-free." I know you worried about errors, well now you have the word!
The culmination of fifty plus years times two!
A long time ago, Patti asked Rick, "What is your interest in World War aviation. Rick replied that, "I am trying to establish rosters of German Jastas." Patti asked ,"How to you do that?" Rick answered, "I do that by compliling the the names of German Jasta pilots of the necrology listing, that's a list of dead of dead pilots."
Then in a conversation with one of her girl friends, Patti said, "Dan has some strange friends, one of them collects the names of dead German pilots."
Very blue skies,
Dan

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Rick:
This is a little story (true) from a long time ago. And from this story , you the reader will recognize the source of a couple of books.
This was about 45 or so years ago and Rick (Duiven) was visiting me and Patti (my soul-mate, best friend and wife.) Rick and I were drinking coffee and having a cigarette (that was when it was fashionable to smoke, before EPA and greenpeace and the rest of the anal orifices).
Patti asked Rick, "What is your interest in World War One aviation?
Rick replied, "Patti, I am attempting to make the rosters of the German Jastas." ( We pronounced them then like J in Jack, not like Yasta.)
Patti, being a polite Hostess, asked "How do you do that?"
Rick said, "We have Necrology list, that is a list of dead German pilots, and with the name is the unit he was in at the time of his death. And from that list, and victory lists, I am able to compile the list of pilots in each Jasta."
With that Patti asked, "Rick, would you like more coffee?"
A few days later, I heard Patti talking to one of her friends on the phone, I heard her say, "You know, Dan has some strange friends, there is this one named Rick, who collects the names of dead Germans!"
Blue skies,
Dan-San
P.S. The name of the book is "Jasta Pilots"

[await]

Hi Dan,

I'm glad Dr. Hallion has put his seal of approval on Schlachtflieger! and also concurred with my foreword to the work. While reviewing the manuscript of your and Rick's opus magnum, I had collected a number of articles on the subject of air-ground support in general and also specifically concerning the First World War. I believe I passed along copies of all of them to Rick. I had some ideas about expanding the main text in a couple areas, including the conclusion. However, Rick felt it was "expansive" enough!

In any event, one of the articles I reviewed was written by Dr. Hallion and originally appeared in the Spring 1990 issue of Airpower Journal. The title was "Battlefield Air Support: A Retrospective Assessment." It is available online at: BATTLEFIELD AIR SUPPORT. He lists here 11 lessons learned about air-ground support over 70 years.

One of the lessons (Number 7) concerned high casualty rates. Dr. Hallion wrote: "Even in the First World War, battlefield attack missions took a high toll of attacking aircraft, particularly as troops became seasoned and learned to fire back. During the Battle of Cambrai (France), for example, ground-attack mission loss rates never dropped below 30 percent, resulting in the essential destruction of a fighter squadron in four days. Understandably, pilots expressed a marked preference for dogfighting, believing that it significantly enhanced their chances of survival."

I had that last statement in mind, along with the feelings Yeates expressed, when I followed the Winged Victory quote with the comment: "No doubt many, if not most, fighter pilots would have shared Yeates' sentiments regarding such hazardous duty and felt some relief in returning to normal offensive patrols far above the front, where one could at least deal with a more visible enemy on more equal terms."

Glück ab!
Adam

[Kilian]

Collecting Names of dead German pilots is useful though. In the short time i posses your work, i could already help out 4-5 people by using the compiled Names and Unit listings of the Schlastas. At the moment im also somewhere in the middle of the book. Its very interesting so far.

best regards
Kilian